Thursday, November 1, 2012

The Lure of Political Eschatology: On Remembering to Remember that the World is in God's Hands, Not the President's

Four years ago, I wrote a post bearing the same title as this one, which I offered as a gentle reminder for Christians who were overly anxious about the supposed disastrous state of affairs that would occur if one or the other presidential candidate were elected. Reading back through it, I realized that I need only replace "McCain" with "Romney," and the relevance of the piece would be entirely undiminished. It is both sad and unsurprising that this is so: Americans (and American Christians) spy a precipice lying behind every election, just waiting to swallow up the universe. Christians should know better. Read below for why.

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Following the presidential race this year (or any year), I've noticed an
inevitable trend that peaks its head with marked regularity, but is
especially noticeable this year. It is an offshoot of what I will call political eschatology:
the ongoing, pervasive belief that the fate of the world (at the very
least, the nation) hangs on the outcome of the presidential election.

And
in reading political commentary on both sides, surveying bumper
stickers, and listening to everyday people talk about the candidates,
you might just buy into the fact that the world will fall apart if
America does not make the right choice.

Into this situation and
these assumptions, then, the church bears good, if difficult, news: the
world does not depend on America for sustenance, provision, life,
virtue, or need; for those things the world depends on God.

I
realize for many Christians that statement may not seem like anything
new; however, the way people -- often Christians -- speak about this
election belies trust in anything other than the American political
process to hold together the fragile state of the global situation. That
is not to say that the election of Obama or McCain Romney would not entail
profound differences, or that these differences are not serious enough
to cause one to vote with hope one way or the other. Rather, in
remembering both God's promise to not forsake his creation and his
calling of a people to offer the world an alternative to its rebellion,
Christians cannot give into the alluring temptation that any nation is
the key to holding the world in balance. The church has a better name
than keeping-chaos-at-bay for what God has given us in Jesus: shalom
(Hebrew for "peace" or "wholeness"). And the shalom of the people of
God cannot be left behind simply because we have forgotten to remember
that in Jesus God has given us a gift greater than military strength, or
democracy, or political freedom.

So let conservative Christians
affirm: if Obama is elected, the world will not end. The economy will
not self-destruct, terrorists will not overtake the government, the
judiciary will not dissolve the rule of law.

And let liberal
Christians affirm: if McCain Romney is elected, the world will not end. The
poor will not be forgotten, nukes will not be launched at a moment's
whim, a new global ice age will not be inaugurated.

For the truth is indeed good news (and let all Christians affirm!): in the cross of Jesus of Nazareth, the world did
end. But in Christ's resurrection the world has been made anew, the
shalom of God's Spirit has been breathed onto God's people, and the
"end" which will come with Jesus's return will not be destruction and
finality, but restoration and renewal, forgiveness and reconciliation,
redemption and new creation.

This is good news, because we, the
church, do not have to worry about what will happen come the first
Tuesday of November, for we know that "the God who moves the sun and the
stars is the same God who was incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth," the
crucified and resurrected one. That is, we know that neither Obama nor
McCain Romney will put the world to rights, and neither can offer to the world
the shalom of God.

And that is okay. But we will not do either
candidate any good with messianic hope or eschatological doom. Instead,
we must be patient -- that most important virtue of God's people -- and
rest easy knowing that God is in control, and the President of the
United States of America is not.

2 comments:

Thank you for these thoughts. I am also very distressed by the way Christians around me so readily buy into the hope/doom scenarios surrounding the election, as if politics were the solution to the world's problems. Last night I did a devotional at church, and I began, "I am not scared," and then I immediately quoted Matt. 28:18. Nothing that happens on Tuesday will change the truth of that verse. "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness...all other ground is sinking sand." And that includes political candidates.

I just wanted to offer my two cents as an Amen to your thoughts above.

Mi Yodea?

Mi yodea? is the question the King of Nineveh asks in Jonah 3:9: "Who knows?" Jonah announces the impending destruction of Nineveh, but the King calls his people to repentance, resting his hope on the open possibility that God may be moved to mercy and forgiveness. And, as it happens, God is.

So that is the overarching question for us as we practice theology: Who knows? Who knows what God is doing, or what God has in store? The God revealed in Israel and in Jesus of Nazareth is a God of surprises, one who is doing a new thing. Such a God we will find at work in the most unlikely of places; may we, then, be fellow explorers and sojourners on the way.

About Me

I teach theology at Abilene Christian University. I'm interested in Scripture, theological interpretation, ecclesiology, the Trinity, and nonviolence. In an alternate universe I am a film critic while sidelining as an NBA analyst. Put those together, you've got this blog. Follow me on Twitter @eastbrad.